On Wednesday (9/7/22), a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter will land on the football practice field at Knoxville Catholic High School at 9:30 a.m. as a prelude to an all-school assembly with three winners of the Medal of Honor at 10 a.m.
Honorees are U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Leroy A. Petry (Paktya Province, Afghanistan, 2008) who will descend to the campus in the helicopter to join U.S. Army Sergeant Gary “Mike” Rose (a special forces medic in Operation Tailwind, Laos, 1970) and U.S. Army Specialist Kyle White (Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, 2007) for an all-school assembly.
Mike Rose
The assembly will be hosted by Star 102.1 FM morning show co-host Marc Anthony. Students will learn of the heroic actions in combat that earned the recipients the Medal of Honor. The school was selected by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for a school visit. The last such visit was in 2014.
Fox & Friends Weekend show co-host Pete Hegseth will lead a roundtable discussion with Knox Catholic students and MOH recipients in the school library that will be filmed for a forthcoming Fox News special.
Leroy Petry
Knox Catholic students have been taking part in the Medal of Honor Character Development Program which teaches courage, commitment, integrity, sacrifice, citizenship and patriotism. The Medal of Honor Society encourages regular people to believe that they can choose these values in their everyday life. The school visit will allow the entire Catholic student body to hear the recipients’ personal experiences during the most extraordinary circumstances.
KCHS families that are veterans or active duty are invited to attend the all-school assembly at approximately 10 a.m. on Sept. 7. The Irish Media Network will broadcast the assembly live for free at IMN.knoxvillecatholic.com.